This Is How North Korea Avoids Sanctions Through China

Wall Street Journal: Chinese-North Korean Venture Shows How Much Sanctions Can Miss

State-owned Chinese firm and a blacklisted North Korean company had a partnership for nearly a decade to mine for minerals useful in missile production; Chinese firm says it never did much.

DANDONG, China—For most of the past decade, a Chinese state-owned company had a joint venture with a North Korean company under sanctions for involvement in Pyongyang’s atomic-weapons program, Chinese corporate and government records show.

China’s Limac Corp. and North Korea’s Ryonbong General Corp. set up a joint venture in 2008 to mine tantalum, niobium and zirconium, minerals that are useful in making phones and computers but also nuclear reactors and missiles.

The partnership of nearly a decade, not previously reported, shows how easily North Korea has skirted sanctions to do business with Chinese firms, a vital lifeline for the regime. A February report by United Nations sanctions experts said North Korea had acquired rocket parts and light aircraft via China and used front companies there to access the international financial system.

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WNU Editor: The Chinese .... especially the regions that border China .... are aware of this trade .... and I wold also say that many in the West are also aware of this business. The problem has always been he same .... the failure of the West to not only sanction these Chinese companies, but to also sanction the Chinese companies and financial institutions that do business with these specific Chinese companies that are breaking sanctions.